New tool for stripping PSV (Vita) files - strip_psv.sh

[nitro322]

Hello, all.

I've been trying to find a way to contribute PSV dumps from my Vita games, after having zero luck with existing tools like psvstrip (described here). I recently found this wonderful post by iCEQB that explains exactly how the stripping is done, and after playing around with it a bit to make sure I understood, I wrote my own utility to do the job:

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$ strip_psv.sh -h
Usage: strip_psv.sh [-q] [-r|-s] <Game.psv>
Strip (or restore) PSV header and license information for Vita games

Options:
  -q  quiet output
  -r  restore header/license content, if previously saved
  -s  save header/license content that is stripped

Note: the save/restore options will store data in a file named Game.psv-lic

By default, it creates a stripped file using the the directions provided in iCEQB's post. It's also capable of saving the data that is stripped if you use the -s option, and can restore that data with the -r option to recreate the original source file. I have 7 vita games that I could dump myself and use for testing. Here are the results:

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e453bb2be66443ab91cb77f6dde5c05a  Exist Archive - The Other Side of the Sky.psv
e453bb2be66443ab91cb77f6dde5c05a  Exist Archive - The Other Side of the Sky.stripped.restored.psv
ac3ec14cff686892a0c17933567a96cc  Exist Archive - The Other Side of the Sky.stripped.psv

6cb6f6e66bded6f8603a48f802ffffee  Persona 4 Golden.psv
6cb6f6e66bded6f8603a48f802ffffee  Persona 4 Golden.stripped.restored.psv
6ea7611d133cc40410273daf8f4871d1  Persona 4 Golden.stripped.psv

d6560d88ed0e8e61250fcfae695bbdf8  PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.psv
d6560d88ed0e8e61250fcfae695bbdf8  PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.stripped.restored.psv
4520b0c414a2b83e6f5a8f8e20e6d6ec  PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.stripped.psv

16be3893774de35d6bea02fa8a98d4b1  Sly Cooper - Thieves in Time.psv
16be3893774de35d6bea02fa8a98d4b1  Sly Cooper - Thieves in Time.stripped.restored.psv
620760722a00a060c32f4f646078fb5f  Sly Cooper - Thieves in Time.stripped.psv

175817d6f11a1adb418d300938113faf  Uncharted - Golden Abyss.psv
175817d6f11a1adb418d300938113faf  Uncharted - Golden Abyss.stripped.restored.psv
1a1548c42936e896d873447a96d6678b  Uncharted - Golden Abyss.stripped.psv

134fe931e5c371b21bde5eda816e2667  Unit 13.psv
134fe931e5c371b21bde5eda816e2667  Unit 13.stripped.restored.psv
177e262c66dba6bae87e14caeca55843  Unit 13.stripped.psv

9b7a05ca2f4145d5df4c826b4cbaef62  Ys - Memories of Celceta.psv
9b7a05ca2f4145d5df4c826b4cbaef62  Ys - Memories of Celceta.stripped.restored.psv
26626ae5d476b94863b096d813e82a8a  Ys - Memories of Celceta.stripped.psv

As you can see, all of the restored versions match the originals bit for bit. For the stripped copies, their checksums match the psvstrip submissions for:

Persona 4 Golden
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Uncharted - Golden Abyss

None of the other games have psvstrip submissions. So of the three games that I can compare, all three match.

I'd like to submit this for consideration as an 'official' or 'trusted' utility for submitting PSV dumps. At the very least, given psvstrip flat out fails every time I try to use it, I'll be submitting my own dumps using this, so I wanted to explain the background and methodology before mentioning this new tool in the submissions.

Given it's brand new I suspect there may still be some bugs, and I'd appreciate any additional testing and feedback. For now you can grab a copy from the following URL. I'll give it a more appropriate home later.

https://boxdog.legroom.net/public/strip_psv.sh

Note that this is a bash shell script - it'll run natively on any Linux system, and should run on OSX, though there may be some minor compatibility issues with the versions of some of the other utilities Apple includes with their OS. It should be possible to run on Windows under cygwin, git bash, or the Windows Sybsystem for Linux (WSL) provided the additional helper binaries are also installed (dd, xxd, tail, sed, etc.). If anyone provides feedback on what does or doesn't work on other OSes, I'll do what I can to add support for them.

Feedback very welcome.

[norkmetnoil577]

Excellent work thank you very much! I can't comment yet on how it works but happy to see the tool.

[Hiccup]

Seems like on some environments this produces different results (e.g. one person's ubuntu 20.04 environment), so for now I'll remove this from the dumping guide.